Saint Alphonsus Students Experiment with Fun at Annual Science Fair

From calculating the best angle for shooting a basket to using fruit for batteries to turning water into ink, Saint Alphonsus Liguori middle school students put forth their best effort for the school's 2013 science fair.

Held in the Saint Alphonsus Liguori Catholic School gymnasium on Thursday, Feb. 28, the event showcased exhibits from students in grades six through eight, who demonstrated their experiments to see if their hypotheses were correct.

Sixth grade student and athlete Gina Tollen tested whether or not girls have higher blood pressure than boys while at rest and while in action. She was correct on two of her three hypotheses. "I thought the girls would be higher while at rest and the boys would be higher while in action," she said. "But it turned out the girls were higher all of the time."

Another athlete determined that 55 degrees is the optimal angle for shooting a basket.

Seventh grade student Caroline Stiefbold conducted the Iodine Clock Reaction experiment where several chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide, water, liquid starch and Vitamin C are used to turn a white solution into a purple ink color.

Eighth grade student Sneh Pandya conducted an experiment with antibubbles. An antibubble is similar to a bubble, but the roles of the water and air are reversed. Pandya experimented with several different ways of creating the antibubbles and determined a solution of dish soap worked best.

Overall, students created 46 projects for the Saint Alphonsus Science Fair, and 12 of them will go on to compete in the area's regional science fair on March 9 at Niles North High School. This is the largest amount of projects Saint Alphonsus has sent to the regional science fair in several years.

"In the past we have allowed the students to create their experiments in groups, but this year we asked them to work alone," said Saint Alphonsus Middle School Science Teacher Glenn Crosswhite. "The result is a much wider array of interesting experiments, and I think the students benefitted tremendously from working on their own."

For over 50 years St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic School has celebrated its Catholic values with a strong math, science and technology curriculum.

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ABOUT SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI CATHOLIC SCHOOL

St. Alphonsus Liguori is a Catholic elementary school educating students from preschool through eighth grade. Faculty and staff are committed to developing each student as a whole by providing an outstanding Catholic education designed to promote religious, spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development. Saint Alphonsus is a proud recipient of the U.S. Department of Education's National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award.